U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who skipped an overseas trip this past week because of a stomach virus, sustained a concussion after fainting, the State Department said Saturday…The statement said Ms. Clinton was dehydrated because of the virus and that she fainted and sustained a concussion. She will continue to work from home…

Ms. Clinton’s aides on Saturday informed the Senate committee chairman, Senator John Kerry, about her health, and the Massachusetts Democrat “insisted that given her condition, she could not and should not appear” as planned, said Kerry spokeswoman Jodi Seth. Senior department officials are expected to testify instead.

Next we have Sen. John Kerry, whom Hillary helped considerably with the inevitable SecState nomination by opposing Susan Rice, insisting Hillary “should not appear” to testify.

A spokeswoman for Sen. John Kerry, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said Clinton’s office contacted Kerry Saturday about her concussion.

“Secretary Clinton’s team contacted Senator Kerry this morning to inform them of the secretary’s concussion,” Jodi Seth said. “Senator Kerry was relieved to hear that the Secretary is on the mend, but he insisted that given her condition, she could not and should not appear on Thursday as previously planned, and that the nation’s best interests are served by the report and hearings proceeding as scheduled with senior officials appearing in her place.”

So, let me get this straight: Hillary suffered a concussion after fainting because she was dehydrated from a stomach virus that she caught while under sniper fire from a vast rightwing conspiracy so now she can’t testify at the Benghazi hearing and although she’ll be working from home, she still won’t have time to bake cookies?

Undaunted, Democratic pollsters work on next week’s survey “Flash! 63% of Americans want to see Hillary run in 2016!” Followed next morning by Joe Scarborough exclaiming “There’s nobody in politics today who is more respected by the American people, isn’t that right Barnicle? Barnicle? Mika, wake Barnicle up…”